Trip to DC: Tuesday (picture heavy)
Hmm...did something important happen on Tuesday? It's hard to remember. :)
Started my day at 5AM when I woke up. Got dressed in the same outfit I wore to the concert but I added disposable foot warmers to the mix. I walked to the Metro station and got down to the platform at 5:30AM. It was *packed*. Think, 8PM on FirstNight on the MBTA. The sign said the next train was due in 4 minutes with another one just a minute after. I decided to hang back and wait for the second one.
The first train pulls up and it looks like it's one of those Japanese trains where they have employees to push passengers in until there literally isn't any space to move. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE. The train sat there with the doors open like that for about 10 minutes and then a voice comes on the speakers saying it's going out of service and they need everyone to exit the train! Once that's done (which wasn't easy considering how crowded the platform already was and how full the train was) they announced that the next train would be coming in on the outbound tracks so we all needed to go up the escalator and back down to the other side. This was going to take a long time with so many people but the funnel was flowing. I again decided to hang back. About 5 minutes later they came back on the speakers and said "Nevermind, this train is now back in service"!!! So there was a mad rush to get back onto the train and I managed to get in so it actually worked out nicely for me. :)
Even so, there was no room to move. There were multiple delays where the train would just stop for no reason and wait. I decided to get of at L'Enfant Plaza since the Smothsonian stop was closed for the Inauguration and the other stops would either be even busier or would be north of the parade route and they had all those streets closed so you couldn't even walk past them. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea:
I finally got to the street around 8:30AM - 3 hours after I got to the initial train station. (NOTE: this was a record day for the Metro - they experienced over 1.5 million trips that day: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2440) From there I walked with the crowds towards the Mall. Up to the area around the Washington Monument it was already all closed off - even the standing non-ticketed area. So I walked around the Monument for a bit and used a portapotty while I could (and pocketed some toilet paper for later - just in case). I finally found a good place to stand where I could see a TV, the capital, etc... - basically the best view I could hope for given the circumstances. There weren't too too many people there where I went to stand which was good but as the morning wore on of course it started filling in.
By 10:30AM I was really starting to feel the pain. It was brutally cold, windy, the ground was hard under my sore feet, etc.... On the plus side everyone else was in the same state and we were all jumping around to keep warm, talking to each other, interviewing on cameras, taking photos of...each other, and generally in good spirits. Incidentally, there were many more people shooting on film than I expected. Also, some of the people with consumer-grade camcorders were still real news reporters I guess because someone next to me was interviewed and I saw them later that night on the ABC national news.
Also, who in their right mind wears *tights* to the inauguration in that kind of weather?!?!
There were a ton of helicopters just like at the concert but most of these were from the US Park Police. People would send their significant others to the refreshment tents to get coffee or hot chocolate and an hour and a half would go by before they'd get back! Eventually we got pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder but whenever anyone needed to get by people were nice and moved and such. It was really nice to be a part of that vibe. (It was similar at the overcrowded Metro station - people were clearing paths for the elderly and folks in wheelchairs and also helping kids stay with their families.)
I'm sure by now you've all seen the inauguration on TV or youtube or whatever. You may not have seen/heard the crowd booing when Bush came out and making noises for Cheney too. It was funny but at the same time a little embarassing to be a part of that. Say what you will about what horrible leaders they've been, they still had one of the hardest jobs in the world and deserve at least some respect to their faces. I hate what he's done to the country but I still respect "the President".
After the speech (which made me shout for joy on multiple occasions but *especially* when he mentioned athiests!) alot of people started moving out but the majority of us just sort of stood there looking around and smiling. Some people formed dance circles, others just danced in their own little worlds. Lots of pictures were taken, people with signs posed for shots with people without signs, etc....Some people even climbed on top of the portapotties to get a better view:
I took a walk around and after snapping more pics and seeing where the waves of people were going (towards the parade route even though they'd already shut off access by then) I decided to head over to the FDR Memorial. That was really nice and I can't wait to go back on some warm night to see it all lit up and with the water flowing.
I figured I was already out that way and there wasn't a Metro station nearby so I may as well go to the Jefferson Memorial. It was nice - especially the view of the Washington Monument from inside it. I could have done without all the god quotes but I guess that was the in thing at the time...
After that I headed over the river towards the Pentagon. My plan was to see the 9/11 memorial and then catch the Metro from there. Yeah, that would have worked great if the roads weren't closed but not even us lowly pedestrians could cross some of them so I ended up in some back roads and then eventually a shopping mall at Pentagon City.
It was only 5 more blocks to the actual Pentagon but I was done. I hopped on the Metro and headed back home. Amazingly enough I even got a seat on that first train before changing trains a few stops later.
What. A. Day. I witnessed the change happening and was a part of it. I'll have that for the rest of my life.
(Pics are uploading www.savitzky.com/gallery currently and should be done in a few minutes.)
Started my day at 5AM when I woke up. Got dressed in the same outfit I wore to the concert but I added disposable foot warmers to the mix. I walked to the Metro station and got down to the platform at 5:30AM. It was *packed*. Think, 8PM on FirstNight on the MBTA. The sign said the next train was due in 4 minutes with another one just a minute after. I decided to hang back and wait for the second one.
The first train pulls up and it looks like it's one of those Japanese trains where they have employees to push passengers in until there literally isn't any space to move. There are just SO MANY PEOPLE. The train sat there with the doors open like that for about 10 minutes and then a voice comes on the speakers saying it's going out of service and they need everyone to exit the train! Once that's done (which wasn't easy considering how crowded the platform already was and how full the train was) they announced that the next train would be coming in on the outbound tracks so we all needed to go up the escalator and back down to the other side. This was going to take a long time with so many people but the funnel was flowing. I again decided to hang back. About 5 minutes later they came back on the speakers and said "Nevermind, this train is now back in service"!!! So there was a mad rush to get back onto the train and I managed to get in so it actually worked out nicely for me. :)
Even so, there was no room to move. There were multiple delays where the train would just stop for no reason and wait. I decided to get of at L'Enfant Plaza since the Smothsonian stop was closed for the Inauguration and the other stops would either be even busier or would be north of the parade route and they had all those streets closed so you couldn't even walk past them. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea:
I finally got to the street around 8:30AM - 3 hours after I got to the initial train station. (NOTE: this was a record day for the Metro - they experienced over 1.5 million trips that day: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=2440) From there I walked with the crowds towards the Mall. Up to the area around the Washington Monument it was already all closed off - even the standing non-ticketed area. So I walked around the Monument for a bit and used a portapotty while I could (and pocketed some toilet paper for later - just in case). I finally found a good place to stand where I could see a TV, the capital, etc... - basically the best view I could hope for given the circumstances. There weren't too too many people there where I went to stand which was good but as the morning wore on of course it started filling in.
By 10:30AM I was really starting to feel the pain. It was brutally cold, windy, the ground was hard under my sore feet, etc.... On the plus side everyone else was in the same state and we were all jumping around to keep warm, talking to each other, interviewing on cameras, taking photos of...each other, and generally in good spirits. Incidentally, there were many more people shooting on film than I expected. Also, some of the people with consumer-grade camcorders were still real news reporters I guess because someone next to me was interviewed and I saw them later that night on the ABC national news.
Also, who in their right mind wears *tights* to the inauguration in that kind of weather?!?!
There were a ton of helicopters just like at the concert but most of these were from the US Park Police. People would send their significant others to the refreshment tents to get coffee or hot chocolate and an hour and a half would go by before they'd get back! Eventually we got pretty much shoulder-to-shoulder but whenever anyone needed to get by people were nice and moved and such. It was really nice to be a part of that vibe. (It was similar at the overcrowded Metro station - people were clearing paths for the elderly and folks in wheelchairs and also helping kids stay with their families.)
I'm sure by now you've all seen the inauguration on TV or youtube or whatever. You may not have seen/heard the crowd booing when Bush came out and making noises for Cheney too. It was funny but at the same time a little embarassing to be a part of that. Say what you will about what horrible leaders they've been, they still had one of the hardest jobs in the world and deserve at least some respect to their faces. I hate what he's done to the country but I still respect "the President".
After the speech (which made me shout for joy on multiple occasions but *especially* when he mentioned athiests!) alot of people started moving out but the majority of us just sort of stood there looking around and smiling. Some people formed dance circles, others just danced in their own little worlds. Lots of pictures were taken, people with signs posed for shots with people without signs, etc....Some people even climbed on top of the portapotties to get a better view:
I took a walk around and after snapping more pics and seeing where the waves of people were going (towards the parade route even though they'd already shut off access by then) I decided to head over to the FDR Memorial. That was really nice and I can't wait to go back on some warm night to see it all lit up and with the water flowing.
I figured I was already out that way and there wasn't a Metro station nearby so I may as well go to the Jefferson Memorial. It was nice - especially the view of the Washington Monument from inside it. I could have done without all the god quotes but I guess that was the in thing at the time...
After that I headed over the river towards the Pentagon. My plan was to see the 9/11 memorial and then catch the Metro from there. Yeah, that would have worked great if the roads weren't closed but not even us lowly pedestrians could cross some of them so I ended up in some back roads and then eventually a shopping mall at Pentagon City.
It was only 5 more blocks to the actual Pentagon but I was done. I hopped on the Metro and headed back home. Amazingly enough I even got a seat on that first train before changing trains a few stops later.
What. A. Day. I witnessed the change happening and was a part of it. I'll have that for the rest of my life.
(Pics are uploading www.savitzky.com/gallery currently and should be done in a few minutes.)